India is fifth largest exporter of cultural goods in 2013: Report

The UAE became the most important importer of Indian cultural goods, surpassing the US in 2013.UNITED NATIONS: India became the fifth largest exporter of cultural goods in 2013, tripling its exports to $11.7 billion from 2004, according to a UN report topped by China and the US.

The report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics (UIS) said that India, Turkey and Malaysia have emerged as leading exporters of cultural goods during the last ten years.

The UAE became the most important importer of Indian cultural goods, surpassing the US in 2013.

The value of India's exports to the UAE grew from $938.64 million in 2004 to $6.16 billion in 2013.

Indian exports to the US grew marginally from $1.65 billion to $1.80 billion in 2013.

India also stood out with a significantly higher level of exports in cultural goods compared to its imports, which stood at 1.36 billion dollars.

India, which was the eighth-largest exporter of cultural goods in 2004, moved to fifth position, with its cultural exports tripling from $3.8 billion in 2004 to $11.7 billion in 2013.

China is now the lead exporter of cultural goods with the total value pegged at $60.1 billion in 2013, followed by the US which had cultural goods exports worth $27.9 billion.

The other top 10 exporters of cultural goods in 2013 include the UK, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and France, according to the report titled 'The Globalisation of Cultural Trade: A Shift in Cultural Consumption-International flows of cultural goods and services 2004-2013.

Hong Kong and Singapore were the third and fourth top destinations of Indian cultural goods.

For the UAE these articles (mainly in gold) amounted to 93 per cent of imports from India in 2013.

Indian exports of cultural goods to the US also consisted mostly of jewellery (93 per cent).

In addition, India exported different cultural goods to Nigeria, the tenth-most important destination. Embroidery represented 45 per cent of exports to Nigeria in 2013.

India also strongly strengthened its position in exports of visual arts and crafts, becoming the third largest exporter in 2013.

China, India, Thailand and Turkey together accounted for 45 per cent of world trade in visual arts and crafts in 2013.

While India was among the top 10 destination countries for the US exports of cultural goods in 2004, it was replaced by China and Singapore in 2013.

The UAE overcame the US as the most important exporting country of cultural goods to India, with the value of UAE exports to India increasing from $9.9 million to $474.2 million.

India imported essentially articles of jewellery (mainly in gold) from the UAE as well as from the US in 2013.

In addition, India imported a wide variety of cultural goods from China, the most important of which were statuettes and other ornamental articles in plastics, video games and knitted/crocheted articles.

The report found that trade in cultural goods doubled from 2004 to 2013 to $212.8 billion dollars despite a global recession and a massive shift among consumers of movies and music towards web-based services.

"This is further evidence of the critical role cultural industries play in today's global economy," said UIS Director Silvia Montoya.

Art and crafts have moved up in the ranking of the ten most traded cultural goods, fuelled by gold jewellery - a safe harbour in uncertain times.